There are (in Sweden at least, I suppose everywhere else too) two types of dates: "best before" and "last day of use".

The "best before" kind of date is the most common one by far, and it's used on things that will be obviously bad to eat before they start becoming really bad for your health. Milk, for example, will smell and taste bad before it's really unhealthy. If it seems ok to eat, it probably is - regardless of the date printed on the box.

The other kind, "last day of use", is put on things that can become unhealthy without you noticing - most common use in Sweden is minced meat and raw chicken. This is the type of date you should actually follow without thinking too much about it.

A lot of people don't know there are two types of dates, and treat all dates like the second type.

One of the British supermarkets does the same thing (can't remember which).

Manufacturers don't want to put "safe until" on anything because there are a lot of things that can go wrong with an agricultural product and you don't want to provide a firm safety guarantee.

The thing is, most labels that I see have _sell by_ dates. They're intended for grocery stores, not consumers. But people treat them as _use by_ dates. Which is just awful.